The Bet
by Rokkis
Summary: Harry and Draco make a bet about their peers' reaction to their relationship. Who will win? And how will they find out? :


Disclaimer: I dare not even dream of owning HP. All hail the goddess JK Rowling!!

Harry was breathing heavily into the base of Malfoy's neck. God, he smelled good! The two supposed enemies were snug and warm under the covers in Draco's dorm bed. He had snuck Harry into the Slytherin Common Room earlier, then faked a headache and marched off to his room with an eager Harry tailing him. This was heaven. Harry was somewhere between consciousness and the dream world, when a rather alarming sound woke the two sleeping bum chums. The sound of other students waking up! Draco's eyes opened sharply and he looked down at Harry, both understanding that they had done the unthinkable. They had overslept!

"Draco! Wake up! Lessons start in an hour! And we all know how much time you need in front of a mirror" Zabini chuckled along with the other students.

"I'm… not decent" Draco replied looking worryingly at Harry. Both were wondering if the Slytherins had noticed the extra pile of clothes lying beside Draco's bed, but luckily no outcries were heard. Harry ducked under the covers while Draco slid out; making sure that the bed hangings weren't opened too much.

"I'll be a little late, Blaise. You guys can go ahead" Draco said, trying to keep the desperation in his voice to a minimum. To Harry's relief he heard the other students filing out of the dorm room. He tore away the hanging wondering how he was going to explain his empty bed to Ron. He stood up and caught Draco's eye, both boys looking at each other for a few seconds, and then bursting into a laughing fit.

"That was too close" Draco managed to chuckle. "Can you imagine the look on their faces if you had crawled out behind me?"

"I'd bet you 10 Galleons that they would have been too shocked to even say a word," Harry sniggered in return.

This sobered Draco up and his grey eyes looked thoughtfully at Harry. "I'll take that bet," he said, without any hint of it being a joke. Harry was taken aback, wondering if the Slytherin wasn't just pulling his leg.

"It'll be fun!" Draco said, looking into the apprehensive green eyes of his secret love. "Come on, we'd better find your clothes." Harry just nodded in return, wondering what would happen the next time he awoke somewhere with Draco. They eventually found his clothes hid under his Invisibility cloak, which explained why Harry's presence hadn't been noticed. He dressed rather quickly as the noise of other Slytherins on their way to breakfast kept reminding Harry where he was. Draco tried to help button Harry's shirt, but they somehow ended up in a rather passionate kiss. Thankfully a particularly high pitched laugh, most likely from Pansy, was heard from downstairs. This reminder was most likely the only reason why Harry and Draco managed to pull away from each other long enough to reach breakfast. The two boys stood a moment looking at each other and smiling, and with Harry securely under the Invisibility Cloak, Draco led him upstairs. Just outside the Great Hall, Draco found Harry's ass under the Cloak and gave it a little squeeze before proceeding into the Hall to join his fellow Slytherins. Harry pulled off the Cloak and revealed some rather blushing cheeks (on his face you perv). He shrunk the Cloak, pocketed it and went inside to join Ron and Hermione. They both greeted Harry with a little suspicion, which meant they were both aware that Harry hadn't slept in his bed last night. He smiled, slumped down next to them and began helping himself to some toast and bacon.

"If you think you can take one bite without telling us where you were last night…." Hermione said, her voice shaking dangerously.

"Yeah, mate!" Ron joined in. "Could've left a note or something! Or maybe it was some super-Boy-who-lived-secret-stuff, that only those that survive deathly curses are privy to?" he concluded, his ears now turning slightly red.

Although he resented that comment, it gave Harry an idea.

"Well, if you must know. Dumbledore asked me on a secret mission last night" he said a little triumphantly. "Top-secret mission, you know" he continued, looking at the pair of them, wondering if he was a good enough liar.

"I hope it wasn't anything dangerous. Dumbledore wouldn't bring you along for anything risky, would he?" Hermione said. Harry knew he was safe, judging by the amount of concern in her voice.

"Probably had to fight off a dozen Inferi, didn't you Harry" Ron said a little too eagerly.

"Eh…" Harry started, wondering how he was getting out of this one. Luckily he was interrupted by Fred coming over to suggest when the next Quidditch practise should be held. This proved to be a useful distraction, and turned the potential dangerous conversation over to how they were going to beat Ravenclaw in the up-coming match.

The rest of the day proceeded normally without any more questions from his friends about his adventures last night. Harry did feel a little bad for lying to his friends, but he just wasn't ready to reveal to them the genuine relationship with Draco. Both Ron and Hermione had however noticed that the insults and sly remarks had become less frequent in the last year. Comments about Harry from the blonde had also lost much of their strength, but Draco still made it a point to insult Harry at least twice a day to keep up appearances. Harry's only job was to keep from smiling when Draco threw his lame-ass comments. He had long since stopped trying to make up any of his own, and left that job to Ron, who was proving quite up to the task. Just the other day, Draco had commented on how bad in Potions Harry was (no secret there), and Ron had replied by hexing Draco to purr like a leopard whenever a girl approached him. Something Draco had found unusually funny and left Ron wondering why he was unscathed and not covered in large purple boils.

The next day Harry woke feeling a little worried. He was supposed to meet Draco in the Prefects Bathroom that evening, and still hadn't convinced himself that Draco's bet wasn't just another joke. The day began per normal with an excruciation double lesson of History of Magic. He casually ignored the story about the battle of Saint Ricks, where the Goblin Chief Greg the Greasy was hung from the wall after his entrails had become his ex-trails. He had apparently been found in the stables with the eldest son of his enemy, King Bat-Beard, which had resulted in a 2 year long personal vendetta against the Chief's family. Harry felt his insides squirm and he was suddenly glad that witches and wizards weren't quite as barbaric as goblins. In fact, same sex relationships were much more accepted in the wizarding world than in the Muggle world. Although a relationship with the son of the Dark Lord's right hand man, who's major life purpose, was the demise of Harry might not be that well received. The day was rounded off with a double Divinations lesson, and Harry's insides gave another little squirm when, instead of the usual predictions of death, Professor Trelawney announced that Harry would finds his true love, just before he was struck down by a bolt of lightning of course. Ron elbowed Harry in the side and whispered:

"Maybe you should get to know Cho a little better before the next Quidditch match, Harry. Might be that we have to play in bad weather" he smiled sheepishly. Harry barely managed to return the smile, and sat the rest of the class staring down at his watch, counting the minutes to bubble-bath time.

After dinner, he sat with Ron in the Common Room trying to play a round of chess. Luckily Ron mistook Harry's bad playing as evidence of his superior knowledge of the game, and failed to see that his friend was glancing at his watch every 3 minutes or so. They finally headed off to bed after copying Hermione's notes on the proper way to transfigure a thimble into a punch bowl. Though why this skill would be useful, completely escaped Harry's mind. As soon as Ron's head hit the pillow, Harry noiselessly picked up his wand, cloak and the Maurauder's Map and snuck out of the room. After crawling through the portrait of a bewildered Fat Lady ("perhaps I should cut back on the sherry"), he checked the map and made his way to the Prefects Bathroom, making sure to avoid Filch and the blasted Mrs. Norris.

Well inside he noticed that the bath was already full of bubbles in various colours, sizes and smells and heard someone swimming around. He smiled mischievously, then silently removed his cloak and clothes and sprang towards the filled pool. The Gryffindor jumped in yelling "Geronimo!" making an impressive splash. After a couple of seconds Harry surfaced and tried to look around in the bubbles for Draco, when to his utter horror he let out a high-pitched scream that reverberated off the walls, as he saw that the person swimming in the pool was Blaise Zabini. Blaise also looked a little shocked at first, but then he smiled.

"Also out for a little midnight swim are we, Potter?" he said with, to Harry's terror, a rather husky voice and a glint in his eye. "Don't worry" he said spying Harry's look. "I won't tell anyone", he smiled and gave Harry a wink. Harry had long since lost the use of any of his body parts, but when Zabini started to swim towards Harry with the same amount of clothing as Harry had on, he suddenly felt his legs desperately trying to get away. He found the side of the pool, and dragged himself out. Then grabbing a dense amount of green bubbles to cover himself with, he proceeded to back away from the pool and the flirtatious Slytherin. "Terribly sorry Zabini" Harry began "But I thought the bathroom was deserted, so sorry to…" then Harry suddenly couldn't back away anymore as he had hit something solid. He slowly turned hoping it was just his imagination, but no. Filch the Caretaker was staring evilly at Harry. He must have heard the scream Harry thought, wondering how things could get any worse.

"Out for a midnight rendezvous are we? The Headmaster will be eager to know what sort of sordid affairs take place around the school after night". He smiled cruelly, revealing his few yellowing teeth. Harry would have given his right arm at that moment to escape being dragged off to Dumbledore's office with Zabini.

Maybe Karma had decided it'd been too cruel to Harry Potter that day. It did however send a little distraction in the form of Peeves the Poltergeist to the Prefects Bathroom at that very moment. The ghost cackled loudly as he flouted under the roof taking in the scene below him.

"Oooo, Zabini and Potter swimming in a tub…" he began and then seeing the brightly coloured bubbles, he smiled and dived into the pool, at the same time scaring a very naked Zabini out of it. Peeved reappeared covered in multi-coloured bubbles and rose to the ceiling again and began to float nonchalantly towards Filch. The Caretaker, suddenly understanding Peeves' intent, backed away while throwing the Poltergeist some very nasty curses. Ignoring the insults, Peeves was thoroughly enjoying himself, he floated directly above Filch, then twisted himself into a cork-screw and released all the bubbles and water down over the cursing Caretaker. Harry and Blaise saw their cue and, grabbing their clothes, they ran out of the bathroom. Ignoring the fact they were both still naked they ran in different directions in the outside hall. After putting some distance between himself and the Slytherin, Harry quickly threw the Invisibility Cloak over himself, not wanting to get into any further trouble that evening. He vaguely wondered if Zabini had the sense to put his clothes back on, then his thoughts drifted to the person responsible for the night's events and he made a mental note to _kill_ Draco in the morning. Seething Harry ran back to the safety of the Gryffindor Common Room and his bed.

When he arrived a little late and alone outside the Great Hall the next morning he saw that a group of students had congregated below the display showing the house points. Harry suddenly saw that Gryffindor was in fact in the lead, due to the fact that the Slytherins had apparently lost a large amount of points during the night. He swallowed hard and proceeded into the Great Hall. To his relief no more people then usual were staring his way, so he quietly sat down beside his friends, noticing that neither Draco nor Blaise had showed up yet.

"Ooo, Harry! Have you heard! Zabini was apparently caught in the corridors last night… butt naked" Ron laughed along with a bemused looking Hermione.

Harry chortled along with the others, trying to appear surprised. He silently thanked the gods that he had inherited his father's Invisibility cloak, though James probably never used it in quite the same manner. Harry smiled at himself for a moment, and then proceeded to eat his breakfast. Suddenly a furious looking Snape grabbed Harry hard by the arm and almost dragged him out of the Hall. Ron and Hermione looked worryingly after him, but didn't dare do anything. After being hauled down a corridor and thrown into an unused classroom, Snape finally let go of Harry.

"So you thought it was funny to play a joke on Zabini, did you?" Snape spat, nostrils flaring, looking ready to breath fire. "Thought it would be funny to lure him into the bathroom under false pretences and then arrange to have Filch "discover" you?" Harry stared in disbelief at his least-favourite teacher wondering what on earth Blaise had said to explain his naked presence in the hallway after dark. "I…" Harry began, but was abruptly cut off by Snape.

"Just because you are a famous stuck-up little brat…" Snape continued, now visibly shaking with anger. "…does not mean you can use your undeserved fame to embarrass the students of my House!" Harry wondered suddenly why he was having this conversation with Snape instead of the Head of his own House, Professor McGonagall. Harry's reasoning must have been mirrored in his appearance judging by Snape's next outburst.

"But of course, it will be your word against his, and Filch seems to be under the delusion that you had accidentally met in the Bathroom, but I've got your number Potter", he hissed, pronouncing Harry's last name with such contempt as only he could manage.

"I'll be watching you extra carefully these next weeks, Potter. So don't think you can trick any of my other students into embarrassing situations!" He turned on his heel, cloaks billowing, and left Harry in the unused classroom. The only thing Harry could think was that this was somehow all Draco's fault. _He_ was supposed to be in the Prefects Bathroom and not Zabini. Furious and feeling very humiliated, Harry marched outside down to Hagrid's cabin for their Care of Magical Creatures lesson without returning to finish his breakfast.

The rest of the day was down-right miserable. Hagrid's Sock-bangers (fat worms with various colours that looked just like socks and ate lint), which he was showing the class, turned out to have a special place in their tummies for Harry's fingers. In McGonagall's class Harry and Neville were the only two people who didn't manage to transform their beetles into bedpans, and were consequently given extra homework. The day was rounded off, to Harry's utter dread, with a double Potions Lesson. Snape kept standing behind Harry during the entire class deducting points from Gryffindor for every possible offence. He even took 5 points when Harry cut his Aloe Vera plant a little uneven. It was a total nightmare, and he point blank refused to catch Draco's eye, even though he noticed that the Slytherin kept turning around in his seat to face Harry. When the bell finally rang, Harry was the first one out of the dungeon, and practically ran up the Great Hall away from Snape and Draco. Dinner was also a depressing affair, with Ron and Hermione constantly trying to engage Harry in conversation, but he kept refusing to answer their questions with any thing other then one syllable words. Halfway through dinner, he dared to take a quick glance at Draco, and found that the blonde was staring at him with something akin to concern in his eyes. Harry sighed, and then, finishing his meal, he made his excuses and headed out towards the Gryffindor Common Room, wondering vaguely what else could go wrong today. He had barely walked 10 feet away from the Great Hall, when he heard feet running up behind him.

"Harry!" Draco breathed behind him. "Will you please stop and listen to me". Harry gave another sigh then turned around to face his _ex_ bum chum.

"What can you possibly have to say" he glared at Draco. The Slytherin ignored Harry's fierce look, and dragged the pissed-off Gryffindor to the nearest classroom, the same one in fact that Harry had spent some horrid minutes with Snape earlier. Inside, Draco closed the door and turned to face Harry looking, in Harry's opinion, like a little lost puppy dog. Harry suddenly felt some of his anger melt away, something the always cunning Slytherin blonde quickly took advantage of.

"I am soooooooo sorry!" he started then flung himself into Harry's arms. "Blaise asked me the password the other day but I never thought he would be there last night. I just couldn't think of an excuse to why he shouldn't go, and I didn't have time to warn you. Please, PLEASE forgive me!" he sounded almost on the verge of tears. Harry tore off Draco's arms and pushed him away. The blonde looked forlorn at Harry's apparent refusal to accept his apology. They stared at each other a few seconds, and Harry noticed that Draco's eyes had become glassy. Was Slytherin really on the verge of tears? Harry exhaled slowly, deciding that he did indeed forgive the blonde, then looking deep into the eyes of his favourite evil person, he smiled. Draco almost ran towards him and pushed Harry against the wall and started to kiss the Gryffindor passionately. Harry returned the kisses with equal fervour feeling the heat rise. They were both enjoying being together again so much, that neither of them noticed the door opening. They were equally surprised at the sound of someone clearing their throat. Harry and Draco froze looking into each others shocked eyes and slowly turned towards the door, both tensing as Professor Snape stared first at Draco then Harry with a look of immense contempt.

"Seducing more of my students are we Mr. Potter" Snape's words coming out like acid. "Can't stop using your fame for your own personal gain, can we?" Harry was sure that he could see flames erupting in the teachers eyes. "Well, I think a little visit to the Headmaster is in order, Potter. Draco, I am of course here if you should need any counselling after this rather unpleasant experience." He tried to smile benignly at Draco, then, grabbing Harry's arm, he pulled the stunned Gryffindor out into the hall and towards the Headmaster's gargoyle entrance. Both boys were so shocked by their sudden discovery that neither of them had uttered any protests. However back in the classroom Draco soon recovered as he realised that his boyfriend was being pulled away for ungrounded accusations. He quickly found his feet and started after the pair, realising how much he hated Snape for being so cruel to Harry.

Although Snape and Harry reached Dumbledore's office first, they were quickly joined by Malfoy, who burst into the circular room before anyone had had a chance to speak.

"I am totally in love with Harry, and everything I do with him is of my own free will!!" Draco shouted to Headmaster Dumbledore who stood behind his desk. This statement was followed by several peculiar reactions. First, all the witches and wizards in the various paintings in Dumbledore's office were fully awake, looking shocked and pressing their ears towards the office in an attempt to confirm what they had just heard. Snape couldn't have looked more traumatized if Voldemort himself had announced that he had found salvation, given up his world domination plans and decided to take up knitting. Dumbledore only raised his eyebrows at this statement as he understood that there were indeed some things in his school that even_ he_ had failed to notice. Harry also looked stunned, but then looking around at the others and noticing their silence he started to blush and smile broadly towards his _love_ as he realised that he had probably won the bet.

The portraits soon recovered, and began zooming out of their frames to inform countless others of this peculiar meeting. Dumbledore was now genially smiling, but Snape hadn't moved a muscle. His mouth was still hanging open and the dazed look was still on his face. He looked just like someone who had been petrified. Dumbledore, now humming slightly to himself, turned towards the motionless Snape and said:

"Well Severus, under these circumstances I think it's best if you release Harry's arm. Harry, Draco, you are of course both excused," he smiled at them, eyes twinkling. Harry actually had to ply Snape's fingers off his arm and then grinning he grabbed Draco's hand, and they both left the Headmaster's office.

The two boys knew exactly where they were going. Harry had pulled the Cloak out from his pocket, enlarged it, and ducked under, while Draco led the way to the Slytherin Common Room. There were only a few students in the room, as most of them were still finishing dinner. A few of them said hello to a seemingly alone Draco, who once again excused himself with a headache. Well inside the bedroom, Draco silenced the door and curtains to his four poster bed, then finding the invisible Harry; he pulled the cloak off and pushed the Gryffindor roughly onto the bed. The curtains were drawn, and the clothes were nearly ripped off as the two supposed enemies once again were in a heated embrace. As the first Slytherins came in much later that evening, they failed to notice the pile of extra clothes beside Draco's bed and went to bed unaware of the intimacy still going on behind the drawn curtains. After another hour the two boys were snuggling up against each other after an exceedingly exhausting and very passionate exercise, and soon fell asleep with their arms wrapped around the other.

Harry was once again breathing heavily into the base of Malfoy's neck. God, he smelled even better! He was somewhere between consciousness and the dream world, when Draco slowly released himself from Harry's embrace and crawled out of the bed. Harry simply turned around and kept sleeping, and didn't notice that Draco had slipped out of the bedroom. Some time later Harry finally awoke when he heard the sound of the other Slytherins shuffling about, and was alarmed to discover Draco was not in bed. Sitting up, he saw that his clothes had been neatly placed on top of the bed covers, so Harry slowly and very quietly got dressed. The only thing missing was the Invisibility Cloak. He felt around the bed with out discovering it. Feeling a little panic, he slowly pushed the curtains aside to see if the Cloak was anywhere on the floor. The only thing he discovered was Zabini standing in his underwear in front of the mirror, fletching his muscles. Harry had barely time to register what a relief it was seeing the boy with some sort of clothing, when Draco came back into the room. The other students bade him good morning, and continued with their early morning grooming rituals. Draco walked casually over to his bed, then without pulling aside the curtains, he asked in a calm voice.

"Are you awake, Harry?" Harry froze at the sound of his name, and so had, by the lack of sound, the other students in the room as well. Harry's throat had gone very dry, and he was trying to come up with a reply when Draco again asked.

"Come on you sleepy head, or we'll miss breakfast", he said with the same casual, calm voice. This time Harry found he could still move, and banishing all doubts and pulling on every brave Gryffindor reserve, he pulled the curtains aside and got out. Draco beamed, and ignoring the stupid stares of his fellow students (and perhaps a little envy on Zabini's face), he grabbed Harry's arm and led him to the Common Room. There were considerable more Slytherins in the Common Room and every single one of them stopped what ever they were doing to stare at Draco and Potter (?!) as they made their way to the exit. Draco, still holding on to Harry's arm, stopped to face the crowd and cleared his voice, apparently ready to make a statement. He smiled again at Harry, who was still looking rather shocked, and then he addressed the rest of the Slytherins.

"Does anyone have a problem with it?" he said sternly and gave them an exceptionally cold Malfoy glare, considering how early it was. There wasn't any room for disagreement. A couple of the students shook their heads, all still looking like the world had ended. "Good" Draco finished curtly, and then he flashed his best smile towards the on-lookers and exited the Common Room with a still speechless Harry.

Heading up towards the Great Hall, Draco started digging in his pockets for something. He stopped and, still smiling, he handed Harry 20 Galleons.

"I admit defeat, you win and a Malfoy always honours his bets," Draco said smartly. Harry finally awoke himself probably and then, still smiling, he pocketed the money already making plans to buy something very nice for Draco at their next Hogsmeade weekend. The two smiled sweetly at each other, both relieved that their relationship was finally public and that they never again had to sneak around the castle for brief meetings. They took each others hand as they came to the Great Hall and without any hesitation; they made their way to the Gryffindor table. Both Harry and Draco smiled when they saw Dumbledore give them a little wave from the teacher's table. They also noticed that, unlike the Slytherin Common Room, the Great Hall had _not_ gone silent when they entered. Feeling a little perplexed they both sat down at the Gryffindor table, and Harry gave Ron and Hermione a quizzical look.

"You're already old news, mate" Ron said, smiling at them both. "The Fat Lady's friend Lady Vi, heard, from the Drunken Vicar on the fourth floor, all about your meeting with Dumbledore and Snape after dinner yesterday", Ron stated as a-matter-of-factly.

"I'm guessing Draco was your "top-secret mission" the other night, Harry" Hermione smiled, blushing slightly. Draco started to chuckle as he saw the dazed look on Harry's face. He gave the Gryffindor's hand a squeeze and whispered:

"I think you owe me 10 Galleons, Harry" Draco said, kissing Harry on the cheek, and then turning towards Ron to discuss the Chudley Cannons latest winning streak.

The fluffy End


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